Category Archives: Elections

In mid-April, Tufts University used the Voatz platform to conduct its 2019 elections, with a voter turnout of nearly 1500 students. Students had the option to either authenticate and vote with their smartphones, or via the Voatz tablet system, via a station located in the Tufts Community Center.﻿﻿

ABUJA, NIGERIA — A new mobile application developed by Voatz was used by 16 female candidates during the Nigerian 2019 General Elections earlier this year. The application, called Women Influencing Nations, or WiN, is designed as a politically-oriented social media platform to help women candidates run for office. Using WiN, candidates are able to garner followers, share events and create posts, and even collect political donations via mobile money. The Voatz team traveled to Nigeria during the January campaign season to assist in the roll out of WiN. In partnership with UN Women, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), and Mina’s List, Voatz helped lead a two-day training […]

GUINEA, WEST AFRICA — Tucked away in a tiny village in the far corner of Guinea, Amiti Maloy lives in a one-room, roundly earthen hut with a thatched roof, no electricity, no running water and a semi-functional solar panel to charge her phone. Most days, it takes a village — literally — to charge her phone, dropping it by the local “charging station”, or a wooden outdoor stall where two young men run a generator to charge a majority of the village’s cell phones. Amiti is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guinea. She spends most days teaching, leading hands-on educational camps and coaching soccer to a spirited squad of middle […]

Buzz has been building in various corners of the United States around the concept of “Ranked Choice Voting”. What is it? How does it work? And how is it different from the current system where you vote for your favorite candidate, hope they win, and prepare for your supposed “worst”? At Voatz, we’re fascinated by varying methods for voting and mostly, working to ensure that the systems used to implement them are user-friendly, accessible and accurate when it comes to tabulating the mathematical calculations. What is Ranked Choice Voting (RCV)? To you, the voter, Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) is a relatively simple change to the way you vote. In […]

When West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner took office in 2017, he instructed his staff to explore ways to make voting more convenient for military personnel, their families and civilians stationed or working abroad (UOCAVA voters). As an officer in the army, Secretary Warner experienced firsthand how difficult it is for soldiers and civilians abroad to vote and return a ballot in time to be counted. The statistics confirm the case: in 2016, the estimated voting participation rate for U.S. citizens living overseas was 6.9% compared to the 72% participation rate for citizens living in the United States. In early 2018, Secretary Warner launched the nation’s first mobile voting […]

We are delighted to announce the launch of a new pilot program today with the City of Denver that will provide mobile voting secured by the blockchain to deployed military personnel and overseas United States citizens during the city’s municipal elections this spring. We commend the City of Denver for seeking new, innovative technologies to improve our election infrastructure and provide secure, auditable, transparent voting options for voters. With this pilot program, Denver is leading the effort to make voting more convenient and accessible for deployed military personnel and overseas US citizens. The latest developments in smartphone hardware, encryption and blockchain technology make mobile voting a reality. This is a […]

While Virginians turned out in record numbers for the midterm election last year, more can be done to help the most disenfranchised voting demographic in the country: overseas citizens, military personnel and their family members stationed overseas. Delegates Larry Rush (R) and R. Steven Landes (R), and Sens. Bill DeSteph (R) and Mason Montgomery (D), should be commended for recently introducing bipartisan legislation in the General Assembly that would create pilot programs or have the State Board of Elections study how electronic forms of voting can help Virginia’s deployed military members, overseas citizens and their families more easily exercise their right to vote. Virginia has the third highest number of […]

The Voatz team is delighted to have the opportunity to present our white paper on the historic elections we conducted in West Virginia in 2018. View the full white paper here: West Virginia Mobile Voting White Paper – NASS Submission

On February 2, 2019, the Michigan Democratic Party used the Voatz platform for delegate credentialing and voting in Detroit, Michigan. In under an hour, more than 2,000 delegates cast their votes for three contests. “Working with Voatz has streamlined our registration and voting processes,” the Director of Party Affairs said, “since we began with Voatz, we’ve dramatically reduced our wait times during credentialing and our members report higher satisfaction with the way ballots are cast.”

In November 2018, our Director of Product, Hilary Braseth, delivered a talk for the Women in Blockchain group in Boston, Massachusetts. The talk, “Elections & Blockchains: Can Technology Spark Democracy?”, explored the history and evolution of voter technology across the U.S. landscape, the four major challenges to a voting system, and a blockchain solution. The talk sparked a lively discussion along with great interest to learn more about our systems of voting and the applicability of blockchain.

Charleston, W.Va. — Secretary of State Mac Warner is very pleased with the completion of the General Election pilot project that allowed deployed members of the military and overseas citizens to participate in our democracy by using a mobile voting application to cast ballots secured by blockchain technology. Warner is a 23-year veteran of the United States Army. While deployed in 2012 and 2014, Warner was not able to vote back home in West Virginia because reliable postal service was unavailable. Until now, absentee voters living out of the country have relied on paper ballot absentees or inconvenient electronic systems that require a printer, scanner or fax machine. Those processes […]

This September, we were honored to be featured in a six-part series issued by Udacity, an online platform that offers courses to build professional skills ranging from cybersecurity to design. “Built on Blockchain” is a six-part “original documentary series that aims to demystify blockchain,” featuring how activists and entrepreneurs are building solutions that impact politics, society, and daily life. We encourage you to take a peek — each episode is less than ten minutes — and in particular, at Episode 2, “One Block, One Vote”, where Voatz CEO Nimit shares why he’s moved to do this work, alongside other partners and companies innovating in the democracy and blockchain space.

We are delighted and honored to be a small part of this effort led by the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office to make voting easier and safer for our deployed military service members, their families and U.S. citizens living overseas. Official Announcement Press Coverage

The Voatz platform was used for delegate credentialing and voting at the 2018 Massachusetts Democratic Party State Convention in Worcester where nearly 4400+ delegates participated. During this nominating convention, the Voatz platform was used for 3 contested races (Governor, Lt. Governor and Secretary of State).

We are delighted and humbled to formally announce that a piece of history was created on March 23, 2018 when the first mobile blockchain vote in U.S. Primary Federal Election History was recorded on the Voatz platform. V Block 25626

The Voatz platform was used for credentialing and voting at the 2018 Massachusetts State GOP Convention in Worcester, where Massachusetts Governor Hon. Charlie Baker was one of the voters using the platform. For the first time, a state-of-the-art biometric security system was deployed for each of the 4 contested ballots, and more than 2000 delegates voted.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Secretary of State Mac Warner announces the launch of a secure military mobile voting solution for the May 8th Primary Election. Registered and qualified military voters that are currently deployed from participating counties are now able to vote on the secure mobile application and will continue being able to vote until polls are closed at 7:30 p.m. EST on Primary Election Day on May 8th. All that is needed for qualified, registered military personnel to cast their ballot is a compatible Apple or Android mobile device and an approved, validated State or Federal ID. This pilot project – launched Friday, March 23rd – was originally limited to […]

The Tufts University Undergraduate Student Elections were conducted on the Voatz platform for the first time and led to record student turnout on election day. Students voted using the mobile apps and tablets at the Campus Center.

Nearly 2000 delegates interacted with the Voatz platform at the 2016 Massachusetts Democratic Party State Convention held at the Tsongas Center in Lowell MA on June 4, 2016. The delegate badges were specifically tagged with Voatz QR codes to simplify the process of authentication, and direct scanning was enabled via the Voatz Event Manager (VEM) application.

Lawrence Lessig’s campaign pledge might be the strangest one ever and why it might make sense to support a candidate who pledges to straighten out our democracy and then….quit! Source: This Man Wants to Become President, Pass One Law, and Resign. You Should Support Him.

I have long felt some elusive attraction to Model UN—a United Nations competitive stimulation in which teams of high school students engage in political debate. My fascination began in the spring of my eight-grade year as I began the high school application process. After reading extensively through Model UN school profiles, I began to develop an image of the club as some sort of emblem of worldly knowledge that I knew I wished to achieve. And yet, when I arrived at Concord Academy (CA) in the fall of 2012, I did not join their Model UN team. It was the second week of my freshmen year and I was still […]

President Nursultan Nazarbayev is re-elected to a fifth consecutive term in Kazakhstan, winning 97.7% of the vote, early official results show. An incredible 95.11% of the eligible population of around 10 million came out to vote. Placing aside usual concerns about the suppression of the opposition, this is still an incredible turnout – wow! Source: Kazakh leader gains crushing election victory – BBC News

Working with women candidates in #Nigeria is different than our experience with typical partners who operate in firmly established democracies. These women are courageous, putting their status, reputation & careers on the line. #democracyblog.voatz.com/?p=90…

We appreciate the @CSGovts working group for leading this initiative. Montana's SB124 will ease the absentee voting process for #UOCAVA by replacing the print-sign-scan steps with valid #CommonAccessCards digital signatures. This legislation will save time and effort for voters. twitter.com/CSGovts/…

Earlier this year, our team was humbled to travel to #Nigeria to pilot a new technology platform allowing courageous #women candidates to raise funds and find followers along the #campaign trail. Learn more here: blog.voatz.com/?p=90…

“It’s pretty cool that I was one of the first to try it out. I hope it becomes available to all places. No matter where I live I’d love to feel comfortable knowing I could vote this way again.” -@PeaceCorps Volunteer on #mobilevoting in #2018midtermsbit.ly/2GFW4AZ

With no early voting and a low number of unevenly distributed polling locations, New Yorkers face tough obstacles to #voting. Mobile election technology could help the city improve voter #accessibility and turnout. bit.ly/2vFNTyn

“You know, most of my friends didn’t vote because it was too complicated with the way the mail is (or isn't) here. Most were jealous and hoped they could get the chance to vote this way someday.” -@PeaceCorps Volunteer on #mobilevoting in #2018Midtermsbit.ly/2GFW4AZ

When it came time to #vote in the 2018 U.S. Midterm #Elections, finding a way for Amiti Maloy make sure she could— all the way from her tiny village in a country with no postal system — was critical. This is the story of how she cast her mobile ballot. bit.ly/2GFW4AZ